Process for making and harvesting plate-ice.



D. J. HAVENSTRITE.

, PROCESS FOR MAKING AND HARVESTING PLATE I01.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 11, 1907.

911,238. Patented Feb. 2,1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J INVENTOR ITNESSES: Y wa/4Wi42 ATTORNEY D. J. HAVENSTRITE. PROCESS FOR MAKING AND HARVESTING PLATE ICE.

Patented Feb. 2, 1909.

APPLICATION FILED 17110.11, 1907.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

D. J. HAVENSTRITE.

PROCESS FOR MAKING AND HARVESTING PLATE ICE.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.11, 1907. v Patented Feb. 2, 1909. 3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

IIIIIIIIIIIJJIIIII!IIIIIII/IIIIIIIIII/I/II/I/IIIIIIII/IIL IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/IIIIII!II 1 1 1/1 1 I WITNESSESi m ATTORNEY r ,nnrrnernrns rarer ERDE.

DAVID J. HAVENSTRITE', OF. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY,ASSIGNOR TO CEN TERF REZE l0 PROCESSCOMPANY, ACORPORATION OF- ARIZONA TERRITORY.

' Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented seas, ces.

. Application filed December 11, 1,997. .seriel Hm 406,106.

To all whomit mag/concern:

Be it known that-I, Dav JJHAVEN- STRITE, a citizen of the United States, -re siding at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New'Jersey, haveinvented a certain new and useful 1m rovement in: Processes for Making and arvesting Plate-Ice, of which the:following is a specification.

The invention is a process for themanufacture and harvesting of plate icev and consists in freezing'water from a plurality of-refrigerating fooi and arresting. said freezing olperation beforethe. resulting ice cake meets t e inner surfaces of the vessel containing said water: the invention also-includes further. steps in said process as more particularly recited in'the claims.

In U. S. Letters Patent No. 842,147,

granted to me January 22, 1907, I have described and claimedone-forrn of-apparatus wherein my aforesaidprocess may be carried into eflect.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure 1 is a cross sectlon of a tank, showing the freezing tubes in lace. Fig. 2 is the same, showing the ice p ate formed on and adhers irig to the tubes with its bounding surfaces free from the bottom and ends of the tank. Fig. 3 is a section on the line a; a: of Fig.- 2, showing the ice plate as before, and free from the bottom and sides of the tank"; Fig.

4 is a cross section showin the tubes :and ice plate formed thereon an adhering thereto,

fted from the tank. Fig. 5 is a cross section showing the tank and ice plate'thereon, the dividing saws and the refrigerating chamber, in which chamber are two ice plates, one of which is being thawed off from the tubes and the other (partly in section) from whichthe tubes have beenremoved is receivin water in the openings left by said tubes. ig. 6 1s a plan view andv partial. section on the line 1 y of Fig. 5, of the saws and 106. plate being divided thereby.

Similar numbers of reference indicate like parts. I

The water to be frozen is contained in a tank 1. Resting on thewalls of said tank is a header 2, having a longitudinal partition 3. Extending. downwardl from the header 1 and communicating wlth the compartment 4 thereof below partition 3 are a dplurality of tubes 5 closed at the lower'en s." each tube 5 is a smaller tube 6, which is-seland 9 and 11 and 13 are Within cured in the partition 3, and communicates with the compartment 7 above partition 3. Thetubes 6 are open at both: ends. To the lower compartment 4- connectsa pipe 8 detachably secured by any suitable coupling 9 to a. pipe 10 leading from. any source of refrigerating fluid. To the upper compartment 7 connects a pipe 11, detachably se-- cured by any suitab liverypipe 13. p

' The tubes 5 exteneddownwardinto .the water to be frozen, and havetheir immersed peripheries and ends distant from the inner e coupling 12 to a desurfaces of. the tank. The refrigerating. fluid entering the headerbypipe 8 passes down throught-he tubes 5 and up by tubes 6,and escapes by pipe 11. The circulation of the refrigeratingzfluid is continued until an ice plate 14, Figs. 2, 3 and 4, is" formed between the tubes 5 and aroundtheir immersed peripheries andclosed ends, which plate has its bounding surfacesfree from :the inner surfaces of said tank. That is to say, the ice plate is not to be permittedto. adhere to the sides or bottom of the tank, butis to be separate therefrom, so that together with the tubes 5 it can be lifted readily out of the. tank asshownin Fig. 4. 'To this end the ipesS revious y uncoupled and the header. 2 wit its'dependin tubes andthe ice plate now frozenupon, an

attached to said-tubesv is. raised from the tank by any suitable hoisting means, such as a traveling" crane 15.

,The ice 'plate may now .beseparated from the tubes 5 in any suitable way; preferably by thawing which is easily accomplished by connecting a pipe leading from any source of warm fluid to the pipe 8, and thus causing said fluid to circulate thr'ou h the tubes. As soon as the ice late and tu es are separated, said late may, e divided into smaller plates.

W ere the ice plate after removal from the tank has to be transported to a distance therefrom rior to thawing off, the tubes remaining t erein act as reinforcements and prevent an transit. T 's is a feature of special advantage since large ice lates when transported breakage of the plate during in the usual tongs e uently become rup.

tured and the pieces fa ing'are apt to do ing the arrangement of @pparatus shown n Figs. 5 and 6, the source 0 refrigerating fluid indicated at 16, supplies by pipe the header 2, and tubes in the tank 1, and also by pipe a fixedrefrigerating coil 17, which is disposed inside the ox 18, which is heat insulatedby double walls 19 with air spaces between, or in any other suitable way. On

the outer side of the wall of tank 1, are disposed a number of separate bars 20, and supported inbrackets 21 onthe facing wall of the box 18 is a shaft 22, carrying a number of circular saws 23', and driven by pulley and belt 24. Bars 25, 26, extend between tank 2 .1 and box 18. 'After the tubes and ice plate have been' lifted out of the-tank, as shown in Fig. 4, said platemay be carried by means of the traveling crane over the space between tank 1 and box 18, and then gradually lowered into said space with one side resting against the bars and upon the saws 23, which operate, as shown in Fig. 6, in plane's lying between the tubes 5, thus dividing said plate into a plurality of smaller plates, all,

owever, remaining attached to said tubes. The divided plate may then again be lifted and transported over an opening 27 in the cover of box 18, and lowered through said 0 ening into said box, as shown Fig. 6. T e pi e 28 conveying heating fluid from any suitab e source, indicated at 29, is then connected to the header and caused to circutank to the dividing saws it may be taken bodily to the refrigerating box, and without reezes, thus rendering the ice plates division, thawed off and its openings filled with water in the manner already described. The term foci. has been used in this specification to indicate that the heat ab.- sorption'by which the ice is formed takes lace at a multiplicity of centers within the boundaries of the plate. These foci or centers of r'efri eration are shown as cylindrical pipes, but 0 viouslyithey need not be circuar in cross section. Any long, hollow, pipelike structure of relatively small diameter,

will serve as a focus of heat absorbing infiuence, the cake being formed by the gradual and progressive formation of ice on all sides of each focus and the coalescence of the so formed cylindrical ice masses.

I claim 1'. The process of making plate ice which consists in freezing water outwardly in all directions from a multi licity of heat absorbing foci arranged wit iin the limits of the cake to be formed and arresting said freezing o eration before the resulting ice cake meets t e inner surfaces of the vessel containing said water. 5 2. The process of making plate ice which consists in suspending in water a multiplicity of parallel pipes, .continuously supplying thereto a refrigerating agent, causing ice to form regularly and progressively-therefrom until, by the coalescence of the so-formed annular ice cakes, a continuous plate of the desired thickness is formed, .removing the thus formed plate, while still retainingthe pipes, from the water, and separating the ice' ca e from the pipes.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID J. HAVENSTRITE. Witnesses:

GERTRUDE T. PORTER, PARK BENJAMIN, Jr. 

